Hi, Jack--or John:  o'connor

   First question: Is it Jack or John? I'm up to the chapter where I'm
   commending you for winning that colossal $25 cash prize from Modern
   Photography, and I need to know which identity you would like to go
   by.

   Secondly, I'm opting for a questionnaire to conclude "Sterling Men
   for God," and -- if the book is a success -- I'll be editing a
   sequel, "Sterling Advice," in which I will give anyone interested a
   chance to submit a chapter of helpful information that may be of
   assistance to the general reader about some life problem. Some of
   the contributions may be human interest-oriented; some may be
   genuinely informative. Am going to ask Foster Braun to write about
   his thoughts and fears as he battled cancer, and elation he felt
   when he learned the battle is apparently won; Tom Brennan about
   living with a wife who came down with Ahlzeimer's; etc. What I
   would like to do with the royalties is -- with all the
   contributors' consent -- give them to a worthy charity. One
   suggestion has been to donate them for the construction of the Mike
   Brady Memorial Library (a deceased G.E. classmate) that is being
   built in the town in Ethiopia where he served in the Peace
   Corps. It's already a 501c3 nonprofit in the U.S. Lots of our
   former schoolmates who were bounced out of Maryknoll that would
   have made great missioners went on to satisfy that drive in them by
   joining VISTA or the Peace Corps. A former Maryknoller VISTA
   volunteer I spoke to last night -- Jack Lyons -- even got a letter
   of apology from Maryknoll for kicking him out asking if he would
   kindly return to the fold and resume his priestly studies! They
   made a lot of mistakes with their assessments of us! Wisely, I
   resigned before they had the opportunity to DEMAND that I leave!

   What I am learning from establishing my contacts with many of you
   is that the seminary period of your lives is one that still is
   having a lot of residual effects, ones that still require some sort
   of closure. Plus, I've learned it's a period of your lives you have
   neglected to discuss with your families. Figured if I wrote about
   it, it would spare you guys from EVER having to do so, because our
   stories, experiences and thoughts are basically the same. Let me
   put it this way: My wife read my memoir, and said, "For the last 40
   years, I've been wondering why your so weird. Now I know!" All I
   know is that from all I'm finding out, this is a GREAT STORY!  Let
   me get back to work. Am on page 98 of my GE memoir, and may even
   finish today!  -- Mike Mulhern